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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28935906">It Could Be Like This, Just Like This, Always</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielChrysanthemum/pseuds/CastielChrysanthemum'>CastielChrysanthemum</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Castiel (Supernatural), Canon-Typical Violence, Cowboy Dean Winchester, M/M, Post-Purgatory (Supernatural), Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:26:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,776</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28935906</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielChrysanthemum/pseuds/CastielChrysanthemum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 1899; Dean Winchester somehow winds up in the wild west without any memory of the apocalypse, his time in hell, time in Purgatory, or his life in the year 2012. In this cowboy tirade, Dean is a hunter in Lawrence, KS. Has a “day job” in the saloon but travels by horse to save folks from demons and other monsters. During preparation for a hunt that leads him to the devil's gate up in Sunrise, WY- he meets a peculiar looking fellow with bright blue eyes and dark hair (Castiel !!! post purgatory, but not being brain fucked by that Naomi bitch yet-) Castiel travels to 1899 to try and rescue Dean, but something goes wrong! (His grace isn’t working right?) Castiel decides to accompany Dean to Wyoming on a 3 weeklong (678 mile) horseback trip. (Castiel gets frustrated by this because he is too weak to fly them there, and thus must endure the wild west life alongside his best friend from the future who has a SERIOUS case of forced amnesia.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel/Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. I’m Old, But I’m Awfully Tough!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Chapter title inspired by the song by Cal Stewart. Hello! I'm very excited to write in this style! I’ve never written back and forth time periods like this, I'm trying my best to keep it historically accurate to 1899 and also as canon-compliant as I can with this divergent storyline I’ve written!<br/>I hope y'all like what I have written so far!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">  </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">1899</span>
</p>
<p>It was a regular Thursday morning in Lawrence, Kansas. Dean woke up at dawn in his rented hotel room above the saloon, where he bartended occasionally. After changing into his day clothes and adding some pomade to his hair, he decided it was time to go take care of his horse, “Baby”. He wasn’t the only person awake in the small midwestern town, but everyone usually minded their own business. While brushing out the mare’s coat, he overheard some men walking past the stables, talking about a gruesome murder up in Wyoming and a whole herd of cattle mutilated. Dean’s eyebrows shot up as he knew what that meant, <em>demons.</em></p>
<p>He reached forward to stroke his horse's face and murmured to her gently, “Well Baby, looks like we got work to do.”</p>
<p><br/>
<span class="u">2012</span>
</p>
<p>Castiel glances wildly around himself, dazed and confused. <em>“How did I escape purgatory? I was doing penance for my crimes against heaven… how am I back on earth?”</em> he thought to himself for a moment, then sighing with exasperation-</p>
<p>
  <strong>Dean. </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"He must’ve made a deal; I need to find him and figure out what kind of stupid thing he’s done this time!”</em>
</p>
<p>Castiel unfurled his wings and stretched them widely- a year of barely using them in purgatory left his feathers a mess and wing muscles sore. With a light <em>fwoosh</em>, he was soaring above Maine and searching for the bright, familiar soul of his friend.</p>
<p>He finally spotted another familiar (bright, yet slightly tainted with swirls of black) soul in a cabin in Montana, halfway across the country. Castiel landed firmly outside the rundown shack, getting prepared to hastily demand what happened and where Dean is. Before he could rap his knuckles against the door, Sam threw it open and pointed a gun in Cas’s face.</p>
<p>“Cas?? You’re <strong>ALIVE?</strong>” Sam practically yelled as he lowered his weapon.<br/>
Castiel peered past the giant frame in front of him, blue eyes searching for green. Upon finding no other humans in the space, he turned in reply to Sam. “Yes… it appears so. Where’s Dean? Sam, <strong>where is your brother?”</strong></p>
<p><br/>
<span class="u">1899</span>
</p>
<p>Dean finished packing and preparing his gear for the long trip to Wyoming in search of the demon signs he overheard. He leapt atop Baby with ease, throwing one leg over her saddle in a single jump. Double-checking he packed his secondary pistol in the saddlebag, then making sure the one at his hip was fully loaded- he clicked his tongue and gently gave a tap with the spurs on his boots to get her into a canter. He tipped his hat to a few folks stumbling about the outskirts of town as he got onto the main trail and pushed Baby into a steadfast gallop.</p>
<p>Dean felt uncertain for some reason; like a stone dropping into his stomach, he knew this was going to be a hunt, unlike his previous ones. <em>“these sons a bitches won’t know what hit em…”</em> he thought to himself, trying to work up his confidence- it was to no avail.</p>
<p><br/>
He was undeniably nervous.</p>
<p><br/>
<span class="u">2012</span>
</p>
<p>“Wait, you’re telling me you have <strong>NO IDEA</strong> how you got out of purgatory?” Sam questioned in absolute shock. “Was it the angels? Are… are there any angels left, with the mojo to pull you out like that?” he pushed on, shooting Cas a credulous look.</p>
<p>Sam was starting to become even warier of this whole situation; after scouring for over a month on what happened to Dean- who got out of Purgatory and then vanished overnight, a week after.</p>
<p>Cas sighs heavily, “Yes Sam, that’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you. As for the possibility of my escape being due to my brothers and sisters, I’m not sure. No angel still alive has that amount of power to my knowledge.” He shifts uncomfortably, remembering the damage and death toll in heaven of his own doing during his stint as “God”.</p>
<p>This entire thing reeked of Heaven’s meddling, but Castiel was dumbfounded by how it was even possible with the angel’s current population. He needed to investigate further.</p>
<p><br/>
<span class="u">1899</span>
</p>
<p>Dean was just outside Topeka when he decided to stop for the night. Baby was getting uneasy with exhaustion, so Dean hitched her reins outside the town hotel for the evening. Grabbing some gear from the back of her saddle, he headed in to rent a room.</p>
<p>“Hey, buddy, just a room for tonight. Oh- and a bath I ‘spose.” Dean mentioned to the hotel owner as he set down his belongings.<br/>
“Okey-Doke! That’ll be a dollar fifty, mister.” the owner replied amicably but giving the disheveled hunter a quick once over with caution. Dean paid the man then gathered his things, headed down the hotel’s wooden corridor to his rented room to unpack before taking a quick scrub in the washroom.</p>
<p>Dean, now clean as a whistle, closed the door to his hotel room behind him with a sigh. “What the hell am I gonna be walkin into up there?” He spoke aloud to himself. He was unsure why he decided to pursue this hunt so hastily, he typically spent more time before deciding to take a 3-day trip on an overheard conversation. Scrubbing his hands over his face in his “oh so common” nervous habit, he sunk down into the stiff mattress. Laying down with a hard grunt, within moments he drifts off to sleep.</p>
<p>That night, Dean dreams of a strange time with strange faces that feel oddly familiar but far away; dreams of a sense of longing and love that he already knows but isn’t sure exactly where or how.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Just As The Sun Went Down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Chapter title inspired by the song by J.W. Myers. I’m really excited about this chapter, it's a lot longer than the first one! Further development into what's going on, why things are happening, and the plan!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(sorry for the 3-month hiatus! but I hope you enjoy this chapter!)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <em> 2012 </em> </span>
</p><p>Castiel left Sam at the Montana cabin to meet up with one of the few angels who don’t want him dead. Inias, however, is still wary of Castiel after the last time they met, when dealing with the prophet Kevin Tran.</p><p>“Hello Inias, it's good to see you.” Cas spoke warmly to his old garrison underling. The two angels side-stepped around each other in mutual uncertainty, angel blades tucked away but still ready at a moment's notice. </p><p>“Get to the point Castiel, what is it you need information on heaven for?” Inias said hastily, getting straight to the point. Cas flinched at the barb in Inias’s voice; he knew the anger directed at him is well deserved, but it hurt nonetheless. </p><p>“Dean Winchester is missing. He escaped from purgatory and has vanished- no trace of him under any aliases, no location from his cell phone, nothing.” Cas’s tone shifted from genuine to panicked. Inias rolled his eyes and looked at Castiel with slight disdain, "<em>of </em> <em> <strong>course</strong>, Castiel came to ask about his <strong>precious</strong> </em> <em>human.</em>"</p><p>“I have heard nothing about the Winchesters on angel radio or in heaven. I am sorry Castiel.” Inias sighed heavily before continuing, “I will make inquiries in heaven on your behalf- not because we are friends, but because a missing Winchester is never a good sign.” With a flutter of wings, Inias was gone.  </p><p><em> “Damn it, Dean. Where are you?” </em> Castiel threw his arms up in a frustrated breath. This was becoming ever more suspicious and terrifying. </p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u"><em>1899 </em> </span>
</p><p>Dean awoke at dawn with a stiff back and aching joints, <em> “Damn, I’m getting old.” </em> he thought to himself. With a shaking stretch and a pop of his joints, he started his day. </p><p>Walking through town, he decided to stop at the general store to pick up a few items for his long journey north- more whiskey, a few packs of cigarettes, a few cans of food, and some various medical supplies. </p><p>Once all stocked up for his trip, he returned to his rented room to pack up his belongings. Heaving his duffle bag over his shoulder, he checked out of the hotel and loaded his things onto Baby’s saddle. </p><p>“Well girl, let's get this show on the road!” Dean spoke to his beloved horse; and with a gentle tap of his boots and a tongue click, they were gone.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u"> <em> 2012 </em> </span>
</p><p>Cas knew it was a longshot, but he decided to check anyway to be absolutely sure. He flew to Van Nuys, CA. to investigate the abandoned factory that held the once used “green room” from years ago during the apocalypse between Michael and Lucifer. </p><p>He lands outside the dilapidated building with nervous stealth. A shiver runs down his spine as he remembers the last time he was here, angel banishing symbol carved into his chest as he took on five of his siblings. That was before the apocalypse, before Sam said yes to Lucifer, when he thought Dean was a broken shell of a man who would give into saying yes to Michael. Those were simpler times, weren’t they?</p><p>Castiel extends his grace around the building, searching for signs of life or activity, he finds none. As he creeps towards the entrance, he draws out his angel blade <em> “can’t be too careful” </em>he reminds himself. He pushes open the doors to find the same run-down room in the middle of the large warehouse, totally unchanged. He’s sure he is alone.</p><p>“Hello, Constantine! You look surprised.” a nasally voice called out from beyond Castiel’s sight. </p><p>
  <strong>Fuck. </strong>
</p><p>Cas whips around and raises his blade towards the figure striding towards him, Zachariah.</p><p>“What, no direct attack? No <em> ‘how are you alive?’ </em>” Zachariah boasts as he casually walks towards Castiel.</p><p>“Dean killed you. He stabbed you through the skull, he told me so himself.” Cas mutters in shock. His superior has been dead for 3 years now. How could this be? </p><p>“That's right! Dean-o pulled a fast one on me, but I have new ideas. <em> ‘Apocalypse-now’ </em> is old news. God has a better plan.” Zachariah meets him with a facetious grin. </p><p>God? The same God that brought Castiel back not once but two times in the past? </p><p>“What did you do? Are you behind Dean’s disappearance?” Cas is practically yelling by the end of his sentence. </p><p> Another sickening smile from Zachariah says it all.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u"><em>1899 </em> </span>
</p><p>Dean is atop Baby, galloping along an old wagon trail at a steady pace. He hears bullfrogs bellowing just up the path and decides to let her get a drink at what must be a pond since they've been riding for a few hours now. Upon finding the small mass of water, he climbs off her saddle and removes it, he never liked leaving it on more than was necessary for her sake, those things can be heavy! </p><p>“Shhh, it's alright girl. We can rest here for a bit, I don't want to push you too hard for too long.” he whispers to Baby as he starts brushing out her mane. Baby huffs and swivels her head back to nip at Dean’s hat, taking it gently in her lips, and pulls it off his head, playing with it. </p><p>“Hey! ...don't you dare.” Dean laughs as he notices her start side-stepping away from him and closer to the pond. </p><p>Baby hoofs at the dirt briefly before shaking her mane out and… tossing his hat straight into the water.  </p><p>“Son of a bitch! Dammit, girl, you're always messing with my shit, I know you want to play and you're tired but now's not the time!” Dean yells back to her playfully as he wades into the water to retrieve his hat. </p><p>Once he gets back out of the water and finishes brushing out her coat and feeding her a few apples, he hitches her to a nearby tree and begins setting his tent up for the night. Thankfully it's still spring, so the ground has defrosted and it's not a scorching midwestern summer yet.</p><p>His dreams are strange tonight. He is being chased by monsters in a land he doesn’t know. It’s dark and dirty and he finds himself surrounded, until- </p><p>“Dean! Get yer ass movin and get to slicin!” a gruff creole man yells to him. Dean glances down at the dark obsidian blade in his hands before dodging a blow from the strange creature coming at him. He smoothly decapitates the monster and turns to <em>whoever </em>this strange man he's accompanying is. The moment he turns around to meet him, he sees a flash of teeth, a vampire. </p><p>Dean raises the strange blade in the direction of the other man, “you’re next, pal.” he growls.</p><p>“Now Dean, I thought we’d moved past this shit. I help you find that <em>angel-boy </em>a-yours and get you outta here and you get ME outta here.” the vampire teasingly counters.</p><p>Angel? No such thing.</p><p>Dean wakes in a cold sweat. <em>Who was that vampire? What the hell was he talking about? </em> <em> WHAT ANGEL?  </em></p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u"> <em> 2012 </em> </span>
</p><p>“Zachariah I won’t ask again, <em> WHERE IS DEAN WINCHESTER!? </em> ” Cas steps angrily towards the other angel with his blade coming up threateningly. "<em>If anything happened to Dean after everything we went through in purgatory…" </em>Castiel internally says to himself.</p><p>“Oh, nothing terrible! I know God has bigger plans for those mud-monkeys, so I just decided to give Dean a little realistic taste of one of his bizarre fetishes. He wanted to play wild west gunslinger, so I dropped him off to be one.” Zachariah nonchalantly remarks. “Have fun chasing him, Castiel!” and before Cas could plunge his blade into the chest of his past lieutenant, a <em>whoosh </em>of wings filled the air, and Zachariah was gone.</p><p>Dean was time-traveled to another time period? “Gunslinger”… that's what he said. Sam would know where to start looking in history.</p><p>Castiel lands outside the cabin in Montana once again but doesn’t stop to knock on the door before bursting in. He needs to know where in time Dean is, so he can bring him back home. </p><p>“Sam, tell me everything about Dean and his apparent ‘fetish’ with gunslingers” Cas demands in advance to Sam’s shocked bluster. He sits down impatiently at the table while waiting for Sam to catch up to his sudden appearance. </p><p>“Uh, well… I mean he always loved those old Clint Eastwood movies and you remember when you sent us back in time to get the colt from Sunrise, Wyoming? He was ecstatic over it, wouldn’t stop saying ‘yeehaw’ and ‘posse magnet’ for weeks after … I mean that was also before we knew what you were doing with Crowley... never mind that. What’s going on?” Sam mumbles his way through to the point, standing up to be more direct. </p><p>Castiel sighs and stands up to face his friend, how can he say this without causing further panic? “I believe Zachariah was resurrected by God and has sent Dean back in time as some sort of plan or test, I'm not sure.” Sam’s eyebrows meet his hairline as the realization settles in. </p><p>“God? <em> ZACHARIAH</em>? You’re sure? Dean killed him! And God, he hasn’t intervened since I went to hell and brought you back to life!” Sam shouts incredulously, searching Castiel's face for further explanation. “Why would they do this? Why now?” </p><p>Cas wishes he had more information, all he has to go off of is what he was told and what he already knows. “I'm not sure Sam, but we need to figure out the year of when they would have sent Dean.” </p><p>Sam thinks for a moment. “<em> Would they have sent Dean back as far as 1861? No, they would’ve done something closer to what he already knew, something closer to their current time period but still wild. Honestly, it could be anywhere between 1880-1910s… that's too big of a gap, narrow it down, Winchester!” </em></p><p>Then it hits him. <em> 1899</em>! The end of the gunslinger era but still rough. Dean would thrive in that year; the turn of the century. That must be it, he tells Cas as such.</p><p>“That’s a likely possibility. Are you sure this will be the correct date? You remember how my powers work with time travel, I'm not as powerful as I was back then, so it will be a large risk.” Cas reminds Sam pointedly- "'<em>Not as powerful as back then', what a sad understatement to his choices of a few years prior."</em></p><p>“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. If they want some big plan out of this, it’d be smart to pick a date between this year in time and his last trip back.<em> I hope. </em>” Sam dryly swallows in anxious uncertainty. Here goes nothing, I guess. </p><p>“I’m going to find him, Sam. When I do, and we return, we’ll figure out what to do about Zachariah and this plan of theirs.” Cas states as confidently as he can, despite the slight tremor in his voice. Sam and him have a plan though, even if it's a hail mary, makeshift one. </p><p>Time to once again, save Dean Winchester.</p>
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